MMTU to observe Severance Day on Sep 20
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 18 2026: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union is observing Severance Day on September 20, marking the exclusion of Meetei/Meitei from the list of Scheduled Tribes announced by the Government of India on September 20, 1931 .

The Meetei/Meitei community which had been identified as a major tribe in the North East by the British was excluded from the list of Scheduled Tribes, severing the ties between the indigenous communities which had been living together.

The Severance Day is therefore being organised on September 20 to mark this event, said the MMTU in a statement.

The observance will begin at 2 pm of September 20 at Nirmala Hotel, MMTU said.

It recalled that the Meetei/Meitei community was listed on the top of 14 tribes of North East by the British from 1891 to 1947 .

In 1908, TC Hodson recognised the Meetei/Meitei as a major tribe in the North East and even published a monograph on the tribe's socio economy and ethnography.

However, when communities from Myanmar were even recognised as Scheduled Tribes by inserting Any Kuki Tribe, the Meetei/Meitei indigenous tribe was deprived of the recognition, MMTU said.

The ST demand being raised by the community is therefore not new.

The Government of India must restore the tribal status of the Meetei/Meitei community, and give it Constitutional safeguards and protections as a Scheduled Tribe, MMTU added.

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